The parents of a baby born with her heart outside of her chest hope she will soon be able to come home from hospital.

Vanellope Hope Wilkins was diagnosed with ectopic cordis after a scan nine weeks into her mum Naomi Findlay's pregnancy at Nottingham City Hospital showed that her heart and part of her stomach were growing outside of her body.

A scan at 16 weeks into pregnancy showed that her stomach was back where it should be but her heart was still beating outside her chest.

Vanellope was due to arrive on Christmas Eve but a decision was made to deliver her prematurely by caesarean section at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, on November 22 last year.

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Mum Naomi, 32, from Bulwell, explained: "There is some really beautiful skin forming now so it looks really good.

"They've said it should take a maximum of four weeks and then, hopefully, we will know whether she's going to be at home, or a Nottingham hospital and then home from there. The ideal scenario would be that she's at home."

Naomi said: "We were very lucky really. Although it was tough to witness her in this scenario - you wouldn't want to see any of your children suffer - she's been so strong through it all. She's certainly put me to shame.

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"To have all this open heart surgery and to pull through when she wasn't expected it is just amazing."

Speaking shortly after Vanellope's birth, dad Dean had said:"We know this is going to be a rollercoaster and have started to prepare ourselves for the difficult times ahead, but we needed to give her a chance, and the team here have done that.

"People always knock the NHS, but all we have seen from the team at Glenfield is kindness and a desire to keep Naomi and Vanellope safe and I can't begin to thank them for what they have done for my girls."